Ocasio-Cortez hits back at Republicans after pro-Trump plant suggests we should “start eating babies”

Last night, a video of Representative Alexandria-Ocasio (D-NY) meeting with constituents went viral on right-wing Twitter, blasted out by habitually dishonest conservative hacks like Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire. 

In it, a woman stands up and begins ranting about climate change to AOC, launching into a truly bizarre bit about how mankind will have to begin “eating babies” in order to cut down on CO2 emissions. She even removed her jacket to reveal a shirt with her absurd slogan emblazoned across it. As the woman rambled on,  AOC stood there quietly waiting for her to finish, the correct approach considering it was difficult to tell if the woman was trolling or truly mentally unwell.

Republicans immediately tried to paint AOC’s relative silence as a tacit endorsement of the crazed woman’s comments or cowardice, as bad faith an argument as you’re likely to find. Trump himself even retweeted the video and called AOC a “whack job,” a particularly rich insult coming from someone as demonstrably unstable as him. The efforts to blame the woman’s weird words on Ocasio-Cortez were widespread and ridiculous.

One of Ocasio-Cortez's constituents loses her mind over climate change during AOC's townhall, claims we only have a few months left: "We got to start eating babies! We don't have enough time! … We have to get rid of the babies! … We need to eat the babies!" pic.twitter.com/uVmOnboluI

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 3, 2019

AOC is a Wack Job! https://t.co/LU3hIeek0c

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2019

The video spread throughout the tendrils of the conservative Twittersphere quickly, eventually coming to the attention of writer Matthew Sweet, who immediately identified the “eat babies” lady as a likely plant from the fringe pro-Trump LaRouche political movement, a group which often pulls stunts such as this. Sweet gave a quick rundown of some of the truly outlandish beliefs held by these people and in the process made it clear that AOC’s decision not to engage with the ludicrous woman was the correct approach.

It’s that moment when your obscure research subject pops up in the news. Yesterday @AOC was confronted by a woman claiming to be a climate activist at a town hall meeting. Her proposal to solve the climate crisis – “eat the babies”. pic.twitter.com/dUhZDTa85t

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

. @AOC did not denounce this woman. She thought that she was suffering from some kind of mental illness, and treated her kindly. But all kinds of figures on the right and the alt-right have pounced on the story. Including the President. pic.twitter.com/FjinKd56ne

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

So who was this woman? Not a climate activist. Not even, perhaps, someone with a mental illness. She is a representative of the bizarre political cult once led by Lyndon LaRouche. Previous targets for this kind of stunt include @Janefonda Olof Palme & Michael Dukakis. Now @AOC. pic.twitter.com/0JVsfn6vCn

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

The LaRouchies are pretty exotic. They believe that the Queen controls the drugs trade. They think Prince Philip wants to start WW3. They think Bertrand Russell used the Beatles as part of a secret British psy war against the USA. They are, to use a technical term, nuts. pic.twitter.com/HaeOQC0WMe

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

The LaRouche group was once a fairly ordinary revolutionary Marxist group. In the early days Bernie Sanders subscribed to their literature. Then came the great Brainwashing Affair of 1974, when members were convinced they had been programmed to kill by the CIA.

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

But the point here is that a small, weird, politically unclassifiable – once Marxist, now more often described as neo-fascist and antisemitic – has spent nearly five decades pulling these stunts. Democrat Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was a notable victim. pic.twitter.com/40ILdTAc8v

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

And here they are, making headlines again. And still crazy after all these years. pic.twitter.com/wXKYCHcHN9

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

It also shows, I suppose, the residual intellectualism of their little movement – the whole stunt is a call back to Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Thomas Malthus – along with Bertrand Russell and the Queen – is one of their gallery of villains.

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) October 4, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez saw Sweet’s well-researched breakdown and took to Twitter to explain why she chooses to de-escalate rather than antagonize in situations such as the one captured in the video.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1180104921678569473?s=20

She followed it up with another tweet later in the day and joked that she was able to keep her cool while facing the amateurish Trump plant because she’s used to dealing with far worse on the NYC subway. As usual, she demonstrated her ability to keep her cool even in the face of overwhelming Republican smear attacks. The mere fact that conservatives are forced to rely on idiotic stunts like this to attack Democrats is a sure sign they are running out of not only defenses but ideas altogether.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1180196638134022144?s=20

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